The Great Lakes Nationals - Hot Wisconsin Rods - Expanded for Web

1/58The cheese and the cars were hot in Madison. The weather was cool and wet-but that didn't stop anybody from having a great time.

When Goodguys figures out how to control the weather, they won't have to worry about getting soaked at one of their outdoor events. Until that day, we'll all just have to take our chances, hope that it doesn't rain, and deal with it when it does.

It was beautiful and clear when we got to Madison, Wisconsin, on the set-up day for the Goodguys Great Lakes Nationals, but the weather report warned us that the wet stuff was on its way.

We got lucky on Friday and had a nice sunny day. The Alliant Energy Center seems custom made for a car show, meaning that there is plenty of pavement for the various Goodguys corrals-Homebuilt Heaven, Youngguys, Pro's Picks, Deuces Are Wild, Fins Are Fifty, and Mighty Muscle-and a big grassy area with willow trees and a creek, for rodders who prefer that scene.

2/58Mike Freund can be proud of his candy tangerine five-window. It's a Downs body, chopped and riding on a Super Bell front suspension with a rear triangulated 4-bar. Six 94s on an Offy intake top the 350 engine. The interior features a '34 Chevy dash and Glide seat. Best of all, Mike drove the car.

We weren't so lucky on Saturday. It rained off-and-on all day (making it easy to tell which photos we took on which day). The showers probably kept some cars away, but we liked hanging out among hardcore enthusiasts who want to, can, and will drive their cars regardless of the weather.

We had ten Rod & Custom Top Tin awards to give away. We try to honor owner-built cars whenever possible. That was easy to do in Madison, and many of our picks fit that description. We're always looking for regional trends, and a few things we noticed in Wisconsin were a high percentage of customs, a high percentage of drivers, and a high percentage of good Polish, Czech, and Slovak last names which we apologize for misspelling.

When we got to the show on Sunday, the rain was coming down steadily, the vendors were packing up, and Goodguys was sending the hot rodders home. We were disappointed about not seeing our R&C Top Tin picks parked together, and missing the rest of the final day fun, but we'd already had two terrific days at the Great Lakes Nats. We'll forget the crummy weather soon. What we'll remember are the hot Wisconsin rods and cool Wisconsin customs.